I'll try to answer all the questions/comments.
No, the wire in the attic was not AL (this would be against the code). And I'm sure that (this is what I believe) what happened was the EC was daisy chaining the receptacles and when he got to the last one, he didn't have anyplace to terminate it so instead of removing it from the push-in part of the receptacle (which is a pain anyway), he just threw it in the back and thought no one would notice.
The panel is CH and so is the breaker, but I don't know why it didn't trip. As for thermal imaging (IR scans) this would not have helped since it was under the drop in range of the cabinets. I had to pull the stove out to get to this. By the way, I use an IR camera at work and have found many problems with it (mostly OL panels), but that could be a different discussion.
As for finding a qualified person to inspect this, I really am quite disillusioned. I'm not sure that I can trust anyone since time and money seem to drive this industry.
